2008 Drew Gatekeeper Pinot Noir $25

You can get good tastings Pinot Noirs’ for well under $20, but you got to spend some money to get those complicated, funky, addicting Pinots. This is a single vineyard (Rio Vista Vineyards) in the Santa Rita Hills region of Santa Barbara, California. 11 months in French oak, 13.8% alcohol content.

The color is see thru red with brown highlights. It has that cool, funky Pinot Noir nose, medicinal notes, eucalyptus, dirt and fruit. The first taste is huge blast of red fruit and blueberries on the tip of the tongue that transitions to a bit of acidity in the back of the palate, then a long, long dark fruit finish. Nicely structured and balanced. A very well crafted Pinot Noir.

2008 Decoy Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

Decoy is Duckhorn’s entry level wine. This Pinot Noir is sourced from 8 vineyards in Anderson Valley, in the coastal region of Mendocino, California. The wine is aged for 13 months in French oak. The interesting element concerning this Pinot is that Anderson Valley was plagued by forest/brush fires last year and the resulting smoke has gotten into the grapes. Some wines from Anderson Valley have what has been described as a “wet ashtray” taste, but not the Decoy.

The color is a clean crisp light see-thru crimson red. The nose is smokey dark fruit and the scent of meat cooking on the grill. It tastes of tart cherries, tobacco and dark chocolate. A long vanilla cola finish. Firm tannins and a well structured wine.

The accidental smoke damage brings attention getting flavor to the Decoy Pinot Noir, if you like it, buy several bottles of the 2008 vintage, because I don’t think they are going to start a few fires to recreate this taste.

2008 Jigsaw Oregon Pinot Noir $15

This Pinot Noir is sourced from multiple vineyards all over Oregon. The grapes from each vineyard are aged separately for 10 months in French oak barrels. Then the individual barrels of single vineyard Pinot Noir are blended together, hence the Jigsaw name.

The color is a see-thru dusky red. The nose is tart red fruit, minerals and dust. The taste is sweet at first, strawberries, blackberries,  then a hit  of acidity. The overall impression is of a clean, crisp, dry wine. The finish is tasty and lingers.

A solid Pinot Noir, good fruit, nice structure, would pair well with all but the heaviest of food.

2008 Lucky Star Pinot Noir – $9

Sourced from all over California, though primarily from the North and Central Coast, this is 91% Pinot Noir, 6% Syrah and 3% who knows? Stainless steel fermentation, with maybe a a few oak chips tossed in for flavoring. A combination of grapes grown in warm and cool temperatures to blend both styles of Pinot Noir.

Lucky Star Pinot Noir is kind of like biting into a fresh juicy raspberry.  It has raspberry and cherry flavors throughout with soft tannins that give you a wonderfully silky finish with just a hint of chocolate.  What a great value!

Not really a food Pinot Noir, more of a sharing a glass with a friend on a summers evening kind of Pinot.

Chandon California Blanc de Noirs $12

I can recall a time when low priced Sparkling Wine was little more than fizzy vinegar, I drank it anyway, but you didn’t really want to be seen drinking the stuff. That is no longer the case, there are a whole slew of tasty bargain sparklers available. Chandon Blanc de Noirs is Moet Chandon’s California wine project. This is the American Sparkling Wine served at all White House Receptions. The Blanc de noirs (means white from black or red grapes) is a blend of two red grapes, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier both grown in Carneros County. Second fermentation is at least 12 months in the bottle.

The color is a light, very light golden yellow. The bubbles are very strong, sharp on your tongue, then they disappear. The nose has the typical champagne yeast aroma and light cherry and strawberry notes. The flavors are tart cherries and soft berries and then the creamy centers of chocolate covered cherries, not the chocolate flavors, just the creamy cherry centers.

At this price, it’s just not for toasts and special occasions any more.The Chandon Blanc de Noirs can be an everyday wine. With food, it will go well with anything a Pinot Noir can be paired with. I know I rarely think about grabbing a “Champagne Style” wine on a tuesday when I just want a bottle of wine to enjoy, I think it’s time to add Sparklers to the rotation.

2007 Taz Santa Barbara Pinot Noir – $13

This California Central Coast Pinot is sourced from two vineyards in Santa Barbara County. Grapes from the North Canyon Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley that are soft and delicate are added to grapes from the Fiddlestix Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills that are big and bold. Two different sides of Central Coast Pinot blended into one bottle. 1/4th of the juice saw French oak barrels the rest was aged to neutral oak, so a bit of oak for flavor but not much for aging, a drink it now wine.

The color is a rich deep see thru purple. It has that funky Pinot nose, mushroom, forest floor and then strawberries and spice. Medium mouth feel, not lush, but not watery. The taste is cherries and chocolate covered strawberries, but not sweet, there is a good deal of acidity. You can really feel the acidity on your tongue and the back of your mouth. A nice blueberry and cherry juice finish.
A $13 complicated, interesting and tasty Pinot, be still my heart.

NV Brownstone Pinot Noir – $10

People say that you can’t find a good Pinot Noir at an inexpensive price. Well, we have news for them. We have discovered a yummy Pinot Noir for $9.99. Full of earth and juicy grape flavors, this wine is wonderful by itself, but is structured enough to go with most white fish. It is an earthy juice bomb and I have had Pinots at twice the price that are not this good.

find it at http://www.dobbysliquors.com/

2006 Oakwood Hollow Napa Pinot Noir – $14

I thought I was done with the end of the bin series, but I found one more. In Chicago,there used to be two large liquor stores, Sam’s and Binny’s. Binny’s bought Sam’s and all the Sam’s specific Wines are now on cut out. This Napa Valley Pinot is made by the same people who made the ne-go-ciant Syrah, it is comprised from 6 barrels purchased from some unknown Napa vineyard. It once retailed for $28, but Sam’s is gone, it is now an orphan and sells for $14, I don’t expect you to find this exact same wine, but equal deals are available out there, you just have to explore and find them.

Ok, Oakwood Hollow is a fake name and it sounds way too much like the place Winnie the Pooh lived, but a $28 Pinot made from Napa fruit is very likely to be better than a $14 Pinot sourced from vineyards all over California. The color is see thru ruby red. The nose has whiffs of alcohol but also chocolate covered cherries and mint. The taste is sour cherries at first then dark fruit, cranberries and vanilla, the tannins are light, but you can sense the oak on the back of your palate. A long somewhat nondescript finish, a little too sour to be delicious. A tasty wine but with the sour cherries and cranberries it is very tart . This is definitely a food wine and not an afternoon sipper.

2006 Gypsy Dancer Oregon Pinot Noir – $16

Ok, so this isn’t really a $16 Pinot, it normally sells for anywhere from $40 to $60, but again I found an end of the bin special. I was not familiar with Gypsy Dancer Pinot but how can you turn down this kind of deal. The grapes are sourced from the A & G Estate Vineyards in the Dundee Hills region of Oregon. In checking the web for information on this Pinot, I found that the Winemaker, Gary Andrus passed away Jan. 30, 2009 and this is the last vintage ever to be produced. So, that’s the reason the wine was in the cut-out bin. This is a very small volume, (480 cases produced), unfiltered wine.

The color is a dense, but see thru deep red, with brown overtones. The nose is the classic Pinot Noir aroma, mushrooms, crumples leaves, a little bit of flowers and a hint of mint, nothing else smells like a good Pinot. The flavor is delicate, not overpowering but somehow huge at the same time.  Your mouth is filled with flavor, but none of the flavors overpower, just an explosion of subtle blended tastes. There are black and blueberries in there, also some Junior Mints, this is a very balanced delicate yet full. There isn’t really a finish, it is more like the initial flavors refuse to give up, it lasts a long time. The Gypsy Dancer is more fruit forward and less earthy than some Pinots, but is is beautifully balanced and wonderfully subtle.

I spilled some of the wine for a fallen Homey, it looks like I’m a fan of Gary Andrus’s wines a little too late, he made a really good wine. The Gypsy Dancer is well worth searching out if you can find it, it was a $60 wine before he passed and now is $40 and if your lucky much much less.

Owen Roe Sharecropper’s Pinot Noir – $19

Owen Roe is not the name of the Winemaker, Owen is sort of the Irish equivalent to William Wallace. The Winemaker David O’Reilly who along with Jerry Owen make a line of terrific wines from the Pacific Northwest. They’re wines are always top quality and even on years when the weather does not cooperate they come up with interesting wines. This Pinot is sourced from a few different vineyards in the Northern Willamette Valley of Oregon, aged 9 months in French oak, alcohol content 13.75% and a fairly small volume of 4,500 cases produced.

The nose has a lot to offer, jammy fruit, vanilla, a whiff of brewing coffee, and a little bit of musty mushroom aroma. The mouth feel is a bit oaky, a  dry feeling in the back of the mouth, this is a young Pinot, it’s fine to drink now, but a year or two of bottle age will tame the oak. The color is a glassy crimson, very pretty. There is abundant spice and pepper, it comes in layers and is not overwhelming, the fruit is dark and dry, not sweet, with some thin no fizz cola flavor. That may not sound like a good combination on paper, but on your palate it works just fine. A very multidimensional wine, what you taste in the first sip of your glass will change by the last sip of your glass, lot’s of fun to drink.

Not the “Holy Grail” under $20 Pinot ( you need to catch a sale to get the Sharecropper for under $2o), But a rock solid, attention grabbing Pinot.

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